ABSTRACT
Like many in the field, Doug Hesse did not start out seeking a career in rhetoric and composition. His dissertation at the University of Iowa is titled The Story in the Essay (1986) and combines rhetorical awareness with an emphasis on personal writing and literature. The writing program he went on to found at the University of Denver has garnered national recognition and serves as a model for building a faculty from across English studies of full-time non–tenure-track lecturers, of which the WOE interviewer was a member. Hesse has held leadership positions in many of the most important organizations within rhetoric and composition. He served as chair of CCCC, president of the Council of Writing Program Administrators, editor of WPA: Writing Program Administration, chair of the Executive Committee of the MLA Division of Teaching as a Profession, and as a member of the Executive Committee of NCTE, for which he served as president from 2013–2016. He continues to teach and direct the Writing Program at the University of Denver, where he is Professor of English.
